Gender Role in Innovation

Research shows that men and women are equally innovative but their gender role within an organization can affect their perceived behavior when innovating and sharing ideas. Men are perceived as more innovative and risk-taking, while women are perceived as more adaptive and risk-averse. People perceive innovative solutions to be more likely to come from a male manager, and adaptive solutions to be more likely to come from a female manager. However, a mix of men and women in innovation workshops creates a complementary effect that yields better results. Women may hold back in innovation exercises, so facilitation approaches are needed to assure that they feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Pairing men and women up helps to overcome risks felt by women and improves the expression of jointly-developed new ideas.